• April 13, 2011

The Home Depot, which estimates that on any given day, some 1,500 of its employees are on active military duty, says it is giving $30 million to organizations that help veterans with housing issues over the next three years.

In addition to funding, associates for the Atlanta-based chain will volunteer time and home-improvement skills in projects around the country. The first gift is a $3.1 million donation to Fisher House Foundation, which provides comfort houses for the families of veteran and active duty military patients receiving medical care at major military and Veterans Affairs medical centers.

The Home Depot Foundation is providing a one-year $500,000 grant to repair and enhance many of the organization's 54 existing houses, and where possible, Home Depot employees will actively participate. It will also give $1.8 million to Volunteers of America, which provides affordable housing, and $1.05 million to The Mission Continues, a group that encourages veterans to lead community projects.

In 2010, the chain says, over 20,000 military members and veterans faced foreclosure. And in 2009, an estimated 136,334 veterans spent at least one night in a homeless shelter or transitional housing program during 2009.